The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game - A Book Review

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game is the seventh novel by author, Michael Lewis. After his highly acclaimed debut, Liar's Poker, this is Lewis' at his best. The story weaves back and forth between the evolution of the NFL's Left Tackle position and the unbelievable story of Michael Oher.

The book opens with the disturbing recollection of New York Giants' linebacker Lawrence Taylor's destructive sack of Washington Redskins' Joe Theismann. Taylor's bull rush off the left side of the offensive line, the quarterback's blind side, resulted in a gruesome career ending compound fracture of Theismann's leg.

It was a sack, if you saw it live or on Monday Night Football back in November, 1985, you will never forget. I was a freshman in college and had gone bowling with some friends that night. The Monday Night Football game was playing on the adjacent monitor to where we were keeping our bowling scores manually. I didn't see the live play, but saw the replay when O.J. Simpson, Joe Namath and Frank Gifford were beside themselves announcing the event. The bowling alley went quiet. Balls stopped rolling and pins stood motionless. The aftermath of the collision was hard to witness and even harder to stomach. A collective gasp echoed down the silent lanes. The scene was surreal. The NFL and the left tackle position had changed forever.

While this recounting made for a good opening chapter, this book is about something much bigger...Michael Oher.

A child of dangerous intercity Memphis streets, Michael Oher wandered the streets from age seven and was fending for himself by the age of nine. Michael's absent father was eventually murdered during the boy's formative years and Michael's mother was addicted to crack cocaine. Michael repeated first and second grade and had attended eleven different schools by the time he was finishing middle school. During Michael's seventh grade year he missed more days of school than he attended. His GPA hovered around 0.90, but the system kept passing him off to the next grade. By the time Leigh Anne and Sean Touhy picked Michael off the street, he was a non-communicative dissociative illiterate and also a 6'3", 275 lb., 15 year old black kid with only one pair of shorts, two shirts and no physical address.

I will not spoil the story, but sufficed to say, Michael Lewis utilizes a sense of humor with sound prose and amazing metaphors to create a damn fine read. Check it out before Hollywood spins a different tale and screws it up.

Al, the Travel Valet
Pick of the Day(57-13-1)...Twins

Back From the Dead

I apologize to everyone who has been eagerly awaiting my return. I was on my own death-watch for the past few weeks. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration on my part. The flu and my weak bronchial response to the illness really knocked me out. I'm still terribly dazed by the medications and flu grogginess, but will make an attempt to rejoin the literary and internet world today.

I find it astounding that with all our scientific and medical advancement in the past fifty years an otherwise perfectly healthy adult can still be obliterated by the flu for several weeks. The pharmacological and health care industry in the United States is a frickin' joke. The industry focuses on symptom management, not health and wellness. "Let's prescribe something for that nasty cough." (Not what's causing it). I'm so over this.

Don't think for one instant I'm promoting the Obama, Hilary or Pelosi heathcare reform nonsense. That is not the answer! That route is just a means for the further promotion of Socialism!!!

The problems lie within the FDA and its communal relationship the pharmaceutical companies and a seriously corrupt insurance industry. Our healthcare has turned into an outrageous scam that will only worsen as the Baby Boomers age. These two fields have gone the same way as the auto and fuel industry. If this were an unregulated field it would go bankrupt, but since the government feels we can't take care of ourselves, healthcare has become more profitable than oil. The focus on profit margin has crippled research and development and redundant anemic bureaucratic oversight has cost the economy billions and priced a very large portion of society out of vital care. Now, the government wants to overhaul the mess it created at the taxpayer's expense claiming it will not affect the deficit. Hogwash!!! That is not possible. Our Democratic lawmakers tripled our deficit in under a year bailing out two industries that would have fixed itself under the free market system at no cost to anyone except those who damaged themselves in the first place. Government intervention in a free market economy doesn't protect it's citizens, it handicaps them to dependency. Folks we are headed down a path that there is no return. Look at history, please. Rome faltered. So will we.

I'm not saying I have the answers. I don't. Sometimes we must take a step backward to make progress. Let's reexamine what made our country great. Focus on the Constitution and what we stand for. The document was created by great statesmen. Let it work. Don't over-govern. Allow our greatness, like cream, to rise. It will. (It 's the physics of natural order) Greatness always rises.

Al

Catchin' Zzzzzzzz

There's no glossy interpretation...sleeping on a plane is challenging and ugly. The air is dry, the blankets are scratchy, the seats get smaller every other year(we aren't getting bigger, are we?) and the lights and noises of the cabin are intrusive. The planes are fuller than ever with reduced capacity and less flight service. To top it off, airlines charge for the use of pillows so our necks bob with the turbulence. It is just ugly.

As the story goes, my father used to drive me in my infant years around town in the front seat of the old Ford when I couldn't sleep. It supposedly settled me enough to sleep. I'm have no memory of this, of course, but the story contradicts my current predicament. I cannot sleep while in transit. Not even a little. It's so bad, I will probably awaken in the hearse on the way to the grave. I have absolutely no idea why this occurs, but it is real. I have tried over-the-counter, prescription and "under-the-counter" medication. My body/mind will not relax; I'm neither nervous nor anxious, just not sleepy. It is odd.

For the rest of the world, sleep may be possible. Try chamomile tea or glass of milk. Some swear by padded eye masks and ear plugs. Others won't go anywhere without noise reduction head phones (Bose) or a buckwheat pillow/neck collar. I say try them all and discard those without benefit. Lack of sleep and poor hydration are the two main causes of jet lag. And jet lag can be nasty, even ruining the first several days of a much earned vacation. Don't take this too lightly. I try and will continue to try everything. Maybe someday I will find something that works for me. Happy snoozing.

Al. the Travel Valet
Pick of the Day(56-13-1)...Phillies

Returned from Texas with a New Appreciation....

Just returned from Texas with a new appreciation...for humidity! Holy Mackerel!!! We landed in Austin early Thursday afternoon. The temperature hovered near 100 until about 3pm and then Satan decided to open his bathroom window while taking a shower, 102F & 90% humidity. After spending thirty-five years in the sweat soups of Texas and Florida one would think I would be accustomed to this insanity. I'm not; I almost dissolved.

It was the first Thursday of the month so, we decided to checkout the First Thursday Markets on South Congress. It was so damn miserable outside that the market vendors were closing up shop around 5:30. No one wanted to play. Next, we went indoor and dug into some Guero's tacos. Conditioned air is a good thing. Guero's Taco Bar lived up to the hype and delivered an excellent afternoon diversion. After a house margarita and a few chicken especial tacos we opted to forego the ubiquitous bats under the South Congress Bridge for the climate controlled environs of a city driving tour. That ended Thursday.

On Friday, the rains came. An afternoon deluge left us pondering our options in a Target parking lot while a two inch flow of water raced across the parking lot toward drains unseen for what seemed an hour. We decided to head for the safety of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. On the on ramp to the highway water flooded into the rental car from under the floorboard. Seriously, it was raining hard. The night ended with a forgetable visit to the Pappasito's cantina.

Saturday started with a very pleasant brunch at Kerbey Lane Cafe. I'm pretty sure they put a little vanilla in their pancake batter. Kinda addictive, don't you think? After a few marvelous hours in the Central Market, we crept along the University of Texas campus to Scholtz Garten. There we drank cervezas and people watched at the oldest business establishment in Texas before and evening of grandiose college football at the stadium. What an amazing day!! On Sunday, we overslept our checkout time and made it to the airport in time for a Salt Lick BBQ sandwich before boarding a Frontier flight for cooler Las Vegas. That just sounds ridiculous, cooler Las Vegas.

Al, the Travel Valet
Hook'em
Pick of the Day(55-13-1)...Cubs